Classical music star Bryn Terfel to sing with Shropshire choir
Classical music star Bryn Terfel has sung in all the great opera houses of the world, duetting with Shirley Bassey at the Millennium Stadium before the 1999 Rugby World Cup final and performing in front of thousands.
But the bass baritone still found time to pop into a little chapel on the Shropshire-Welsh border to help a male voice choir start its 70th birthday celebrations. The singer will feature in a documentary for the Welsh television channel, S4C. Last week he travelled to Froncysyllte to meet up with singers from the choir, which includes members from Shropshire, along with conductor Leigh Mason.
Choir member David Preston, who is also Oswestry town clerk, said singing with the star had been a "wonderful experience".
He said: "He spent three hours with us in the Seion Chapel. He was full of humour and very interesting to talk to. It is a memory that will with have with us for a long." Fron Choir was formed before the first Llangollen International Eisteddfod in 1947 following a public meeting at Seion Chapel.
The group needed 60 voices to compete at the time and targeted men in the village and the local youth club to form the first group, which at the time was the youngest in Wales. The group stayed together following the Eisteddfod and went on to enjoy success singing in Llangollen and the National Eisteddfod.
The choir's Voices of the Valley CD was number one in the classical music charts in 2006 and members have gone on to record five more albums.
